Arguably the first work of science fiction in English, Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone was published in 1638, pseudonymously and posthumously. The novel, which tells the story of Domingo Gonsales, a Spaniard who flies to the moon by geese power and encounters an advanced lunar civilization, had an enormous impact on the European imagination for centuries after its initial publication. With its discussion of advanced ideas about astronomy and cosmology, the novel is an important example of both popular fiction and scientific speculation.
This Broadview Edition includes a critical introduction that places the text in its scientific and historical contexts. The rich selection of appendices includes related writings by Godwin and his predecessors and contemporaries on magnetism, human flight, voyages to real and unreal lands, and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.
The Man in the Moone
Description
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Francis Godwin and his Contemporaries: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
The Man in the Moone
Textual Notes
Appendix A: Francis Godwin, Nuncius Inanimatus (1629)
Appendix B: From Lucian of Samosata, The True History
Appendix C: From William of Newburgh, "On the Green Children" (1196-98)
Appendix D: Arguments about Aliens (Philip Melanchthon, Tommaso Campanella, John Wilkins)
Appendix E: From Jan Huygen van Linschoten, Discours of Voyages into the Easte and West Indies (1596)
Appendix F: From Mark Ridley, A Short Treatise of Magneticall Bodies and Motions (1613)
Appendix G: From Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621, 1628)
Appendix H: From John Wilkins, Mathematicall Magick (1648)
Bibliography and Works Cited
Author Description
William Poole is an Official Tutorial Fellow at New College, Oxford University.